Tom Vek, Bar Academy, Birmingham, 20th April (Live Review)

Tour support for Tom Vek is provided by self confessed ‘crossover dancey indie’ Clor, who opened with the infectious Good Stuff. Their sound is very reminiscent of Soulwax and yes, their singer does look like Uncle Peter, doesn’t he?

Tom Vek is rapidly gaining critical acclaim right now; his music is also said to be a crossover of styles, dance to rock. Unfortunately, I don’t think his songs are as strong as, say, Clor’s, especially falling down lyrically. They frequently follow a theme of repetitions which put me in mind of Alanis Morissette, though I tried very hard not to let this discolour my impressions. Vocally he can often be unimaginative; a song like Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes contains some soaring Martin Grech-like vocals, but instances like that are just too scarce. A couple of songs also had false starts, one technical and one seemingly due to too little rehearsing which is disappointing from an act now on a headline tour.

On the plus side, If You Want sounded great, and there were other promising songs in there too. Tom Vek is an artist who, if he concentrates on what he already does well, could become an impressive act; sadly, tonight was not the night.